Mechanical means controlled automatically for immersing ladles into molten metal baths for filling the ladles, raising the ladle above the bath for excess liquid to run out over a weir edge thereof, the tilting of the ladle to a predetermined angle for preselecting a given volume of molten metal in the ladle, and then moving the ladle for pouring the measured amount of molten metal into a die or shot sleeve of a die casting machine are known in processes for the production of castings. Furthermore, filter means have been employed for reducing the amount of slag accumulation and dirt on the weir edge of the ladle, such as disclosed in the Groteke U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,337 issued Apr. 24, 1984, and covers for ladles for isolating slag are known as shown in the Masashi Kawana et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,701 issued Sept. 18, 1973. Also the Groteke patent discloses the use of a movable displacement device for urging the molten metal from the ladle into the mold.
It is also known that floats have been employed in open top containers for gauging the flow of the contents thereof over weirs, but such floats are not rigidly attached to the container, nor would they perform their function if they were.
Thus there is no known prior art in which the repeatability and accuracy of measuring molten metal in a ladle has been obtained in production operations as is possible by applicant's invention.